About
Current Interests: Alternate Intelligence, Science Fiction, Food Sovereignty, Food as Medicine, Education, Fungiculture, Post-Colonial Studies, Computational Humanities, Critical Theory
Statement of Purpose:
Tobi’s work revolves around exploring complex and dynamic systems—the ways the living accept data, process it, and manifest that data into output. In short, how and why the living do what they do.
She feels that exploring these mechanisms are essential to building fair resolutions, that understanding the internal worlds of the other fosters empathy and care. Whether she’s exploring the history of physician-patient relationships, delving into fungiculture, or dissecting poetry into its composite parts, she hopes that her work will one day will nurture reconciliation, uplift underrepresented perspectives, and contribute to a space of cherishment for all those weird, whacky, and unorthodox. ​​
Tobi believes in:
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Care as a way of Knowing
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Some believe “good” decisions can only be made in the absence of affection or devotion. However, Tobi feels that we should not only embrace care and compassion, but center them fully. She feels that human experience enriches discovery. In a world which often sidelines those it deems inadequate, care for others is a crucial part of the scientific, historical, and creative process.
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Intellectual Omnivorism
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The key to understanding the biotic is deepening the interactions between academic & creative disciplines. The problems of our world are complex, and require complex, creative, and interdisciplinary solutions.
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The Body as Part and Whole
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Every individual has their own agency. However, we cannot discuss individuals without exploring the systems which surround them. We are all deeply intertwined in and molded by environmental, social, and historical ecologies outside of ourselves, and she believes that should always contextualize our interactions of others. Furthermore, the individual is also a constellation (or system) itself, and should be addressed as such.
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Park